When Howard Schnellenberger resurrected the University of Miami football program in the early 1980s, he did it with a recruiting philosophy that he called "The State of Miami," instructing his assistant coaches to score the top recruits in the South Florida area with the idea that the talent bed there was so rich, it would be all UM would need to dominate.
Thirty years later, Schnellenberger's wisdom would still apply.
The South Florida area (Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties) has produced 57 NFL draft picks over the last three years, more than any metropolitan area in the nation, according to scout.com. Top players from this year's draft who come from the area include Minnesota Vikings first-round pick Teddy Bridgewater, Carolina Panthers first-rounder Kelvin Benjamin and St. Louis Rams second-rounder Lamarcus Joyner.
Miami's Dade County, with a heavy concentration of upper-classification high schools, produced 27 of South Florida's 57 picks.
The Los Angeles area ranked second with 42 picks over the last three drafts, followed by Dallas/Fort Worth (27), Houston (26) and Metro Atlanta (22). Not surprisingly, state rankings over the same period reflected a similar theme. Florida led the way with 104 draft picks, followed by California (84) and Texas (82).
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